The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-11-25

Thoss castles are not in the air, but on the
hills, and we have q deed Of them in our posses
sion. like to see man all full Of heaven.
He talks heaven. BE sings heaven He
prays heaven. He dreams heaven. Some Of
us In our sleep have had the good place open
to u.s. We saw the pinnacles In the sky. We
heard the click Of the hoofs of the white
horses ON which victors rode, and the clap
ping Of the cymbals Of eternal triumph.
And while In our sleep we were glad that all
our sorrows were over, and burdens done
with, the throne of God grew whittier, whittier
and whittier, till we opened our eyes and saw
that IL was only the sun Of the earthly morn
ing shining on our pillow. To have right
heart you need to be filed with this expec-
fancy. It would make your privations and
annoyances more bearable.
In the midst of the city Of Paris stands, or
did stand, statue of the good, but broken
hearted Josephine never imagined that
marble could be Smitten into such tender
ness It seems not hfeless. If the spirit Of
Josephine be disentabernacled, the soul Of
the empress has taken possession Of this
figure. am not yet satisfied that it is
stone. The puff Of the dress ON the arm
seems toned but the pressure Of the finger
TO indent it. The figure at the bottom of the
robe, the ruffie at the neck, the fur lining on
the dress, the embroidery of the satin, the
cluster Of lily and leaf and rose in her hand,
the poise Of her body as she seems to come
sailing out Of the sky, her face calm, humble,
beautiful, but yet sad-attest the genius of
the sculptor and the beauty Of the heroine he
celebrates. Looking up through the riffs OF
the coronet that encircles her brow, coald
see the sky beyond, the great heavens where
IN
story Of endurance and resignation shall be
told to all the ages The rose and the lily In
the hand Of Josephine win never drop their
petals. The children of God, whether they
suffer on earth, in palaces or in novels, shall
come to that glorious rest, oh, heaven, sweet
heavenl at thy gate we set down all our bur-
dens and griefs. The place viii be full
Here there are vacant chairs at the hearth,
band at the table, but there are no vacant
chairs In heaven. The crowns all worn; the
thrones all mounted
Some talk Of heaven as though it were
handsome church, where a few favored
spirits would come in and sit down on finely
cushioned seats all by themselves and sing
psalms to all eternity. No, no. "I saw
great multitude that no man could number
standing before the throne. He that talked
with me had a golden reed to measure the
city and it was Il, 900 furlongs"1 is, 800
miles in circumference Ali heaven is not q
little colony at one corner Of Gods do
minion where mans entrance depends upon
what kind of clothes he has on his back and
how much money he has in his purse, but
vast empire. God grant that the light OF
that blessed world may shine upon us in our
last moment.
The toughest time we had in crossing the
ocean was at the mouth of Liverpool harbor.
We arrived ct nightfall and were obliged to
lie there till the morning waiting for the
rising of the tide before we could goup.to
the city. How the vessel pitched and
writhed in the wateri So sometimes the last
illness Of the Christian is a struggle. He is
almost through the voyage. The waves Of
temptation toss his soul, but he waits for the
morning. At last the light dawns and the
/ tides Of joy arise in his soul and he sails up
and casts anchor within the veil
Is thy heart right What question can
compare with this in Importance
| It is business question Do you not realize
that you will soon have to go out of that
store; that you will soon have to resign that
/ partnership; that soon among all the millions
of dollars worth of goods that are sold in
| New York you win not have the handling Of
yard Of cloth, or pound of sugar, or apen-
nyworth of anything; that soon If q confa-
| grafton should start at Central park and
sweep everything to the Battery, it would
not disturb you; that soon if every cashier
should abscond, and every insurance COM
pany should fan, it would not affect youi
| What are the questions that stop this side the
grave compared with the questions that
reach beyond iti Are you making losses that
are to be everlasting7 Are you making pur-
chases for eternity2 Are you jobbing for time
when you might be wholesaling for eternityl
What question of the store is so broad at the
base and so altitudinous and so overwhelm-
ing as the question, as thy heart rightf
Or Is it domestic question: Is it some
| thing about father, or mother, or companion,
or SON, or daughter, that you think is COM
parable with this question in Importance DO
you not realize that by universal and inexor-
able law all these relations will be broken upi
Your father will be gone, your mother will
be gone, your companion viii be gone, your
child win be gone, you viii be gone; and then
this supernal question will begin to harvest
its chief gains, or deplore its worst losses, roll
| up into its mightiest magnitude, or sweep its
\ vast circles. What difference now does 1t
make to Napoleon III whether he triumphed
| or SURRENDERED az 6eQanf WneJner ne uVeQ az
the Tuileries or at Chiselhursti whether he
was emperor or exilei They laid him out In
his coffin in the dress of field marshal Did
that give him any better chance for the next
world than If he had been laid out in
plain shroudl And soon to rs
what will be the difference whether
In this world we rode or walked,
i were bowed to or maltreated, were
applanded or Missed at, were welcomed in or
kicked out, while laying hold Of every mo-
ment Of the great future and burning In all
the splendor Of grief and oyerarching and
undergoing all time and all eternity is the
plain, simple, practical, thrilling, agonizing,
overwhelming question, ''Is thy heart rightP'
Have you within you a repenting heart, an
expectant heart9 II not must write upon
| your soul what George Whiteheld wrote
upon the window pane with his diamond
/ ring. He tarried in an elegant house over
i night, but found that there was no God
/ recognized In that house. Before he left his
room in the morning with his ring he wrote
/ upon the window pane, some thing thou
i lackest" After the guest was gone the
housewife came up and looked at the win
dow and saw the inscription and called her
husband and her children, and God, through
/ that ministry of the window glass, brought
i them all TO Jesus. Though you may today
be surrounded by comforts and luxuries, and
feel that you have need of nothing, IL
u